This invention relates to an atomizer of the type commonly used in an inhalator.
It has been known to produce a portable ultrasonic atomizer by placing a mesh on the oscillating surface of an oscillator to form an atomizing part and supplying there a liquid to be atomized from a liquid supply part. Ultrasonic atomizers of this type are useful because they are compact low-power devices capable of dependably atomizing a liquid chemical to produce droplets of a uniform particle size.
FIG. 9 shows an example of prior art oscillator 1 comprised of a larger-diameter cylindrical part 1a and a small-diameter cylindrical part 1b with an atomizing surface 1c and provided with a liquid supply route 2 which starts from one side part of the larger-diameter part 1a to a center part of the smaller-diameter part 1b and reaches from there to the atomizing surface 1c. A liquid to be atomized is caused to pass through this supply route 2 by means of a pressure pump or the like (not shown) to reach the atomizing surface 1c at the top of the oscillator 1.
Such prior art ultrasonic atomizers are useful but require a separate driving means such as a solenoid for supplying a liquid and are inconvenient in that their operations are complicated and the maintenance is cumbersome because of their complicated structure and shape. Production of an atomizer as shown in FIG. 9 is troublesome because a liquid supply route must be prepared inside a cylindrical oscillator body, and a pressure pump or the like is still needed for supplying a liquid.
It is therefore an object of this invention in view of the above to provide an improved atomizer with a simple structure and requiring no driving means for supplying a liquid to be atomized.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved inhalator using such an atomizer which is easier to use than prior art inhalators.
An atomizer embodying this invention, with which the above and other objects can be accomplished, may be characterized as comprising a liquid container containing a liquid to be atomized and an oscillator having a cylindrically shaped top part and protruding from the bottom of the liquid container. A pipe or a portion of the inner wall of the liquid container is sufficiently close to the outer surface of the top part of the oscillator so as to form a gap of 3 mm or less such that when the oscillator is caused to oscillate, its vibratory energy causes the liquid to reach the top surface of the oscillator and to be atomized.
An inhalator according to this invention is characterized as comprising such an atomizer and a main housing. According to a preferred embodiment, the main housing and the atomizer are detachably attachable. A coupling unit with two couplers connected with a cable may be used to attach the atomizer to the inhalator""s main housing. A mouthpiece and a mask may be made attachable to the atomizer.